Documents & Reports

Competition law and policy : challenges in South Asia (English)

Abstract

This report focuses on the five South Asian economies that have shown the strongest interest in adopting or modifying their policies on competition: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It argues that encouraging and strengthening competition...
See More +This report focuses on the five South Asian economies that have shown the strongest interest in adopting or modifying their policies on competition: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It argues that encouraging and strengthening competition is critical for sustainable, private sector-led growth and poverty reduction. Competition policies are government measures that directly affect the extent of rivalry between enterprises and the structure of industry. Competition policies typically include both broader measures to enhance competition in local and national markets (such as liberalized trade policy, relaxed foreign investment and ownership requirements, and economic deregulation) and competition law (also referred to as antitrust or antimonopoly law) designed to prevent anticompetitive business practices by firms and unnecessary government intervention in the market place. It is in the interest of every South Asian country to adopt and effectively enforce an appropriate competition law. In addition, South Asian economies need to take credible steps to implement a more explicit, broader competition policy to attract more investment (domestic and foreign) and develop their national competitiveness.
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